The risk of flooding from dam failure in Los Gatos appears to be mainly from four reservoirs, all tying into the Los Gatos Creek at some point or another. Recently Clair found a great resource for better understanding this risk, and we wanted to share it with our readers.
The usual home seller disclosures include a natural and environmental hazard report, but the info does not go into deep detail. For instance, it may state that a location is in a zone of potential flooding from dam failure, but it does not tell the reader which dam it is. At times I’ve sold homes that were in that designated area but wondered whether the dam was a smaller or larger one (my concern being how much water could come through).
Now, more of those questions can be answered by visiting the state of California’s Dam Breach Inundation Map Web Publisher.
This site is very easy to use and to understand. The dams are marked with colors to indicate the downstream risk. Larger dams that spill into more populated areas appear to be those at higher risk, but perhaps they have a different formula for that designation.
Once you zoom in to your desired area (most counties appear to be participating, and MOST dams appear to be included in this publication), just click on the colored box and wait for the information to populate. It is sometimes a little slow, but after a few seconds it will appear.
Risk of flooding from dam failure in Los Gatos
In Los Gatos there are only a few dams that seem to put the town’s area at risk (red boxes on the website). Most of them do connect to the Los Gatos Creek.
- Rinconada
- Vasona Lake
- James J. Lenihan (Lexington Reservoir)
- Austrian (in the Santa Cruz Mountains, upstream from Lexington and Vasona)
The dam at Vasona Lake doesn’t hold an enormous amount of water, and if you visit the website you’ll find that the areas of potential flooding are more limited, but do include the neighborhood of homes just below the dam, unsurprisingly. The James J Lenihan Dam at Lexinton Reservoir, though, is a large capacity reservoir, and the area for potential flooding is immense. It’s hard to see on the image below, but a good portion of Highway 85 would be inundated in this scenario as well as much of the valley between there and the bay.
Natural and Environmental Hazards in addition to risk of flooding from dam failure in Los Gatos
In Silicon Valley there are few areas, if any, in which there are no natural or environmental hazards. Sometimes people tell me that they want to live in Los Gatos, but don’t want to be in an earthquake zone. Often where we see the beautiful hills, there are earthquake faults running through them or near them. Where we have hills with brush and trees we also have a fire risk. Most of the Santa Clara Valley is in a liquefaction zone (most of Los Gatos is not in that zone).
The risk of flooding from dam failure in Los Gatos is not one which requires insurance by the home buyer’s lender (purchasing in a 100 year flood plain does trigger that requirement, though). Even so, it wouldn’t be a bad idea to carry flood insurance. About 25% of floods in the U.S. are in areas outside of the 100 year flood plain, and regular homeowner’s insurance may not cover floods from dams that fail. Do check!
Related reading
Defensible space for fire resistance (this site)
Silicon Valley Liquefaction Zones (our Valley of Heart’s Delight blog)
Is your home safe in an earthquake? (our relo site, Move2SiliconValley)
Is there a radon risk in Silicon Valley homes? (our Valley of Heart’s Delight blog)
